The Odor of the Opera

in 1881 you're probably going to smell nothing as strongly as the body odour of the crowds there.

Perhaps what MJ was referring to was the various odors from deodorant, perfumes, colognes, and maybe even the odor of tobacco. When you have a large crowd and all those odors fuse, sometimes it can become overpowering.

Surely some of those odors would drift up on stage...

As I understand it personal hygiene changed significantly in the late 1800s. In fact a quick google search shows something called the great stink in Paris in 1880 which significantly changed the standard of cleanliness in the general populus.

I think it would be a mistake to assume that just because soap and deodorant existed they had the same standards we do today.

Orianna2000 said:

Sorry, but they had deodorants back then. And they bathed once in awhile, too! We aren't talking medieval peasants, but French nobility.

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Excellent!
Yes, they would have smelled as bad as the nobility. Well, by then the smell of perfume wouldn't quite knock over an elephant, but. . .

Sat Nam! (literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

The smell we associate with natural gas is an added ingredient; it's not natural.

If the singers are heavily costumed, they might smell their own sweat. If pandemonium reigns, then they could smell their own fear and maybe that of the audience; yes, fear has a chemical base and has a distinct smell.

Typically, it's hard to smell the audience, because the orchestra is in front of them. They won't see it either when the lights are off. Ditto about the orchestra.

However, if the audience is highly perfumed (at it might well be) or the men in the orchestra smoke, those might be what the singers would smell.

Have been in the limelight, so to speak, but have never smelled it, so can't help with that part.

Oh, the curtains and the stage itself do have a sort of musty smell, but no singer pays it much mind, and certainly wouldn't if chaos reigns.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal

M J Austwick said:

in 1881 you're probably going to smell nothing as strongly as the body odour of the crowds there.

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That is exceedingly historically inaccurate. They had baths and indoor heated water on demand, especially in terms of people who could afford to attend the opera.

You'd smell hair pomade, perfume, and tobacco.

M J Austwick said:

I think it would be a mistake to assume that just because soap and deodorant existed they had the same standards we do today.

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Given the references we have in household management manuals, and letters, I am absolutely positive that in 1881 someone who was attending the opera would have bathed in the last 24 hours.

This is going to sound strange but, in those sorts of places, I smell something similar to sandalwood. That might just be me, though.

Greasepaint and stage makeup has a variety of scents. If you're onstage you can also potentially smell set stuff - wood, paint (depending on if it was recently done) - and heat. The heat that comes off lights of that wattage aimed at you is remarkable - I dunno if the old were the same level but just saying.

Orianna2000 said:

Sorry if I sounded rude in the previous post. It came out a bit harsher than I intended. My apologies!

Thanks, Maryn. If no one knows what limelights smell like, I'll just use something else, like the flowers she's wearing in her hair.

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Medievalist said:

That is exceedingly historically inaccurate. They had baths and indoor heated water on demand, especially in terms of people who could afford to attend the opera.

You'd smell hair pomade, perfume, and tobacco.

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yes, they did bathe frequently then. It would still smell of BO. While the people would have bathed and would have deodorant and perfume on, there was no air conditioner. If they had been sitting inside a crowded opera house for an hour, they'd be sweating up a storm.

The smell of tobacco, perfume, deodorant, sweat, hair powder for sure. Not sure about the limelights myself though. It doesn't look like anything was actually being burnt in them beyond a hydrogen oxygen reaction, so they probably wouldn't have made a smell if turned off suddenly.

Also likely if it's an expensive opera that they might smell paint and their own makeup as an actor. Quite a bit of that can be used on stage and sometimes it's not done till day or two before opening night.

If all the lights went out in a theatre while I was acting, the last thing I would be doing is wondering what smells there were.

I think keeping my balance, and getting off stage into the wings would be top of the list.

Who is going to be relaxed enough to be thinking about smells?

And surely before smelling anything she would hear the cries and comments because the lights have gone out.

Orianna2000 said:

The reason I have the MC smelling something is because it was a highly stressful scene, then suddenly the lights go out, so she thinks she's fainted. The only reason she realizes she's still awake is because she can smell something. Then chaos ensues.

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Orianna2000 said:

Back in the 1870s, opera singers were expected to provide their own costumes, so I imagine they would have been responsible for cleaning and repairing them, too. In my novel, they've only just switched to having the opera provide the costumes, which was a revolutionary change. Either way, it's the premiere performance, so the clothes probably wouldn't have much odor to them, yet.

The reason I have the MC smelling something is because it was a highly stressful scene, then suddenly the lights go out, so she thinks she's fainted. The only reason she realizes she's still awake is because she can smell something. Then chaos ensues.

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Dress rehearsals.

She thinks she fainted and is thinking about that? That seems weird. Also, not for nothing, but she can hear the crowd. I don't know how quickly you have it from the smelling something to the chaos, which I assume is the crowd, but just saying. If the lights go out in a theatre unexpectedly, you'll get crowd noise, pretty immediately - depending on when it happened/what was going on at the time, from ooh, to gasping to nothing, followed very quickly by murmuring then by louder murmuring and then escalation of basically 'wtf' headed toward some people panicking and some getting pissy. Trust me, heh.

Orianna2000 said:

Back in the 1870s, opera singers were expected to provide their own costumes, so I imagine they would have been responsible for cleaning and repairing them, too. In my novel, they've only just switched to having the opera provide the costumes, which was a revolutionary change. Either way, it's the premiere performance, so the clothes probably wouldn't have much odor to them, yet.

The reason I have the MC smelling something is because it was a highly stressful scene, then suddenly the lights go out, so she thinks she's fainted. The only reason she realizes she's still awake is because she can smell something. Then chaos ensues.

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Go with it. It will only be a second before the screams start, and all sorts of ideas run through minds for a second at a time. I think it might work better, if the fragrance noticed were something that was out of place, rather than sweat, perfume, etc.

Orianna2000 said:

I do have the audience murmuring, then panicking. It's just for that split second before anyone realizes what's happened that I want her to smell something, so she knows she hasn't fainted.

I wanted something distinct, rather than the general odors of sweat/perfume/etc. Preferably, something related to the theater, so it fits with the scene. That's why I was hoping limelights would have a unique smell, or that the gaslights would smell funny once extinguished. The sets and backdrops were painted a couple weeks before, so I don't know if they would still smell of turpentine or not. (My oil paintings tend to stop smelling once they've dried, which usually takes a few days to a week.) At this point, it's looking like the best option would be the flowers she's wearing, even if that's rather generic. Any other ideas?

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If it's opening night, then the finishing touches were put on the scenery a few days earlier, so there might be some smell of turpentine. Or maybe she spilled something on herself before going on, so the smell would be fresh and tied to the time and place; thus it would be more likely to demonstrate to her that she was awake. Or a tub of something in the wings. Or the bottle of Scotch that broke when one of the actors dropped it in the wing just before the curtain rose.

As others have said, the natural gas of the era was AFAIK odourless, and I can't imagine the limelights having much scent at all. However, even if the lights have gone out there's always a sound of some sort in a theatre, and in an opera someone on stage might have been making one of those sustained noises they're famed for (even if it ends in a squeak).

Other smells would be whatever oil the wooden stage floor is treated with, the greasepaint she's wearing on her face (the smell of the greasepaint, the roar of the crowd...), any perfume she's wearing, her costume, sweat, her colleagues, the audience, and so on.

Besides, in a world where light is expensive, I'd debate someone thinking she'd fainted just because the lights had gone out, especially when a fraction of a second later people are going to start screaming (because there's always someone who screams when the light goes out).

Have all the lights in the theatre gone out, or just the main ones? Is there a prompt in the little cubby at the front of the stage? If so, they have a light of their own. Or the orchestra? They have their own lights too, often a candle in a glass. Every single light going out at once is going to have at least some people thinking they've gone blind, because that's a far more sensible explanation.

Smelling salts?